Data Recovery Issues

Folder names like $$$Folder58448 on NTFS partitions mean that the folder has not been found on the drive but some references to it have been. For example, folders My documents, Work, Photos have been found and all they have one parent folder, whose description has not actually been found on the disk, so its name is unknown and therefore represented as $$$Folder58448. It may happen that the description of such folders was outside of the scan area, so try to enlarge the region or scan the entire hard drive. If that does not help, most likely that the description of the folder has been overwritten.

Folder names like $ROOT58448 on FAT partitions mean that some folders have been found, but they cannot be included into the folder structure for this FAT partition. Sometimes, such folders may contain other folder structures.

If you recover a file, and it appears that the file contains wrong data, try to do the following:

•Scan:

the logical disk, if the file has been just deleted.

the hard drive, if the data structure is damaged more seriously.

•Search for the file to be restored on all found partitions and try to recover it from all found partitions. Check each recovered file to ensure that it contains correct data. As soon as you found the partition from which the file is recovered correctly, use this partitions to recover all other deleted files.

If there are several deleted files to be restored, you should use a file larger than 2KB to select the required partition.

FAT file system:

Cross-Linked Folders

Often Restorer Ultimate finds several FAT folder records that contain the same data. Such folders are called cross-linked. Restorer Ultimate marks such folders with an arrow mark:

Restorer Ultimate attributes the content of cross-linked folders to one folder called a target folder. When recovering, Restorer Ultimate places the content to the target folder.

To view the list of cross-linked folders,

*

Right-click a cross-linked folder and select Cross Linked Folders on the shortcut menu

>

A list of cross-linked folders will appear

You may go to any folder in this list by clicking it.

To find a target folder,

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Right-click a cross-linked folder and select Go Target on the shortcut menu,or

Select the cross-linked folder and select Goto Targeton the File menu

To reach the File menu, click the Restorer Ultimate top left corner and select Advanced

If Go Target is gray, this folder is already the target folder.

To set the target folder manually,

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Right-click a cross-linked folder and select Set As Default Target on the shortcut menu, or

Select the cross-linked folder and select Set As Default Targeton the File menu.

To reach the File menu, click the Restorer Ultimate top left corner and select Advanced

If Set As Default Target is gray, this folder is already the target folder.

Questionable Folders

Sometimes, Restorer Ultimate may find FAT records, which look like folders, but their content is invalid. For example, file names have invalid characters, date, time, and size, or other file attributes may look strange. Please note that Restorer Ultimate correctly recognizes localized names. Restorer Ultimate treats such records as folders, but does not analyze their content and structure. You can manually scan such folders, but results may be unpredictable. Usually, such scan reveals garbage.

Restorer Ultimate marks such folders with a question mark.

To re-scan an object,

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Right-click a questionable folder on the Folderspanel and select Rescan on the shortcut menu, or

Select the questionable folder and select Rescanon the File menu.

To reach the File menu, click the Restorer Ultimate top left corner and select Advanced.

NTFS file system:

Symbolic links (symlinks)

Symbolic links (of symlinks) are file system objects that point to other file system objects (named targets). Those objects are usually folders, but may be of any kind. Restorer Ultimate shows symlinks and targets using the following icons:

A symlinked folder:

The target folder:

You may find a target or symlink for an object. Right-click the object and select Links on the shortcut menu.

Files:

Hard links

Hard links are file system entries that give file names to files. This term is usually used when files may have several names. Restorer Ultimate shows hard links using the following icons:

A hard link:

The target file:

You may find a target or hard link for a file. Right-click the file and select Links on the shortcut menu.